The present invention relates to a shutter for blocking the path of a light beam in a spectroscopy instrument.
It is known that chemical analysis of samples can be accomplished by a variety of spectroscopy-based techniques. For example, the amount of various chemical elements in a sample can be ascertained by optical emission spectrometry or by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentration of various chemical species in a sample can be ascertained by ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrometry or infrared absorption spectrophotometry, or by ultraviolet-visible fluorescence spectrophotometry. These are only a few examples of spectroscopy-based chemical analysis techniques.
Equipment for spectroscopy-based chemical analysis typically operates by measuring the intensity of light either as a function of wavelength or at one or more specific wavelengths. This may be done with a monochromator and a single detector collecting intensity data for each wavelength of interest in a serial fashion, but it is also possible to collect light intensity data for more than one wavelength simultaneously. Because of the greater time efficiency offered by simultaneous measurement, this approach is increasingly favoured for practical applications.
Modem simultaneous spectroscopic measurement apparatus typically includes an optical polychromator together with a solid state electronic detector device incorporating an array of optical sensor elements. The detector can be, for example, a charge-transfer device such as a charge-injection device (CID) or a charge-coupled device (CCD). A polychromator that is able to disperse the light in two dimensions (for example an echelle polychromator) can be employed, in which case a 2-dimensional array of optical sensor elements can be used with advantage as a detector. Alternatively a polychromator that provides dispersion in one dimension only (such as a single-grating-based polychromator) can be utilised, and a linear array detector used. The 2-dimensional approach offers better wavelength resolution for a given wavelength range and so is favoured for chemical analysis applications, particularly for elemental analysis by optical emission spectrometry.
Elemental analysis typically involves operation at optical wavelengths extending from the visible to the far ultraviolet, which places limitations on the types of detectors that can be used. Solid state detectors of various types are known to be suitable for this application, for example charge transfer devices, both CIDs and CCDs, are known to be useful. An example of such a detector is the CCD detector disclosed by Zander et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,407. This has a number of optically sensitive sites, generally referred to as pixels, that are distributed in a precise geometric arrangement over the surface of the detector to map accurately the optical image from the polychromator. Each optically sensitive site or pixel is capable of converting the energy of incoming light to free electrons, which are stored at the optically active site. The number of electrons, and thus the total charge, accumulated within each pixel will depend on the light intensity incident on that pixel and the time for which the pixel is exposed to said light, said time being usually referred to as the integration time.
Measuring the optical intensity therefore involves determining the amount of charge built up over a known integration period. In order to do this it is necessary first to collect the charge and then to transfer the charge accumulated at each pixel to appropriate readout electronics.
Two principal ways of carrying out this process are available. The first, used in the detector disclosed by Zander et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,407, duplicates each optically active pixel with an optically inactive pixel. The first step in the readout process is a parallel transfer operation that transfers the charge from each row of active pixels to the corresponding row of inactive pixels. The charge is then stepped through these inactive pixels as the shift register nodes. The second approach uses the optically active pixels themselves as shift register nodes, so that with each move operation the charge on every pixel moves to the next pixel along, with the charge of the last pixel moving to the readout circuit.
Both approaches have their attendant advantages and disadvantages. The second approach has the advantage that most of the surface area of the CCD can be covered by active pixels, thus maximising the light sensitivity of the whole device. It also avoids the need for any secondary structure. That is, this approach provides more efficient utilisation of available light in spectroscopic applications. It also permits the use of relatively inexpensive, off-the-shelf detectors.
The disadvantage of the second approach is that the pixels continue to accumulate electrons generated by any incoming light during the readout process. As a consequence, as the charge from one pixel moves through other pixels on its way to the readout circuitry, it accumulates additional charge, the amount of which depends on the light intensity incident at each of those other pixels and the speed of charge transfer. This has the effect of smearing the resultant image data, which is totally unacceptable in a spectroscopy application. To overcome this disadvantage it is proposed to provide an optical shutter that can block all light to the detector during the readout process.
Known optical interrupters for use in spectroscopic or photographic applications generally comprise one or more metal vanes driven by electromagnetic actuators. For example such devices are disclosed by Vincent in U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,576, U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,553 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,251, by Fletcher et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,506, by Saito et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,682 and by Krueger in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,860. These mechanisms are relatively large, and consequently rather slow. This is a serious limitation in spectroscopic applications. The devices also tend to consume significant amount of power. Because of the number of moving parts the reliability and lifetime of this type of mechanism is uncertain. Furthermore, devices offering sufficiently long life tend to be relatively expensive.
Hikita et al. disclose in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,974 an optical switch based on a piezoelectric bimorph. The use of a piezoelectric device is advantageous because such devices are silent, and they can be operated reliably for many millions of cycles. They are relatively inexpensive. They dissipate very little power and thus do not cause any significant local rise in temperature within the optical system of an instrument. Any such local rise in temperature is undesirable because it may lead to thermal expansion and consequent optical drift. Hikita et al disclose an optical switch having an optical shielding element at the free end of a cantilevered piezoelectric bimorph such that a light beam travelling parallel to the length of the bimorph is either intercepted by said optical shielding element or allowed to pass, depending on the polarity of the voltage applied to the bimorph. Light that is allowed to pass falls on a mirror close to the fixed end of the cantilevered bimorph and is reflected from said mirror and detected by an optical detector. The invention of Hikita et al. is suitable for use with narrow, well-collimated beams of light, such as laser beams, but it would not be suitable for the light beams in spectroscopic instruments. Such beams, although very narrow at certain points, converge rapidly towards such points and diverge rapidly away from them. This is a consequence of the need to capture as much light as possible from the spectroscopic source and transfer it to the detector. A light switch according to the teachings of Hikita et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,974 would not be suitable for use with a widely convergent or divergent beam because the device itself would partially obstruct the beam irrespective of the position of the optical shielding element. This would cause an undesirable loss of light transmission efficiency.
The discussion of the background to the invention herein is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in Australia as at the priority date established by this application.
According to the invention there is provided spectroscopy apparatus for spectrochemical analysis of a sample comprising
a light source and a system for interacting the light source and a sample for providing spectral light of the sample, and
an optical system including a polychromator and a multi-element solid state detector for providing intensity measurements of the spectral light as a function of wavelength,
means for serially reading a plurality of the elements of the detector to provide said light intensity measurements,
and further including a shutter device having a piezoelectric structure, the shutter device being operable on application of an electrical signal to the piezoelectric structure for movement between two positions, wherein at one position the spectral light is permitted to reach the detector, and at the other position the spectral light is prevented from reaching the detector for the plurality of detector elements to be serially read while the detector is shielded from the spectral light.
In a preferred embodiment the piezoelectric structure is a bimorph which is preferably in the form of a cantilevered strip, but the invention is not limited to this construction.
The light source may be adapted to receive a representative portion of an analytical sample and to heat this portion to a temperature sufficient to decompose it and to excite spectrochemical emission of light from molecules, atoms or ions resulting from the decomposed portion, for example as in atomic emission spectrometry. Alternatively light from the source may be passed through a decomposed sample portion and its absorption at particular wavelengths measured, for example as in atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Other techniques encompassed by the invention include passage of light through a suitably presented sample and measurement of its absorption at particular wavelengths (for example as in ultra-violet-visible absorption spectrometry, or infrared absorption spectrophotometry), or measurement of emitted light at particular wavelengths (for example as in fluorescence spectrophotometry). The wording herein of interacting a light source and a sample for providing xe2x80x9cspectral light of the samplexe2x80x9d is intended to encompass all of these and other similar spectrochemical analysis techniques involving the measurement of the intensity of resultant light as a function of wavelength.
The detector will normally be a charge transfer device (CCD or CID) that may be made up of a plurality of detector elements (or pixels) arranged, for example, in a regular array of rows and columns.
A shutter device in spectroscopy apparatus according to the invention can meet the relatively demanding attributes required of it in spectroscopic elemental analysis applications. Specifically, it can have very low attenuation (possibly zero attenuation) when open and can be arranged to block the spectral light beam completely when closed. It can operate with light extending into the far ultraviolet region of the spectrum and not degrade in the presence of intense UV light such as that emitted by the plasma sources typically used for elemental analysis by emission spectrometry. Since the operation of the shutter determines the integration time, the switching time between open and closed positions (or vice versa) may be short, in order to achieve short integration times. It is also accurately repeatable. The optical shutter device, being based on the use of a piezoelectric actuator, also has a long life. For example, a preferred embodiment has been subjected to over 30 million cycles without failing. The complete shutter device can be made relatively small offering further advantages given that space inside an optical system of a spectroscopy instrument is often limited. A shutter device according to the invention may also be manufactured relatively inexpensively.
In a preferred embodiment a shutter element for blocking the spectral light beam is attached to a piezoelectric structure in the form of a bimorph at or adjacent to its free end. This shutter element may be any stable, sufficiently rigid and optically opaque material having a low mass. In a preferred embodiment, the shutter element is a piece of thin metal foil.
In operation, the movement of the bimorph places the shutter element between the source of a light beam and an entrance aperture through which said light beam must pass if the detector is to be exposed to light. The size of the shutter element is such that there can be no direct path for light to enter the entrance aperture when the shutter is in its closed operating position. For more complete exclusion of light from the entrance aperture, it is also necessary to prevent light entering the entrance aperture by indirect paths. In particular, it is preferable to exclude the possibility that light passing the shutter and striking the surface surrounding the entrance aperture might be reflected or scattered from said surface onto the surface of the shutter element and then be reflected or scattered therefrom into the entrance aperture. Accordingly, it is preferable that the surface surrounding the aperture, and the surfaces of the shutter element, be treated (for example to make it matt black) to reduce reflection and the scattering of incident light. Furthermore, to achieve an even greater reduction of the possibility of light entering the shutter by indirect means it is a possible further aspect of this invention to place a mask, having an opaque surface and an aperture, between the shutter element and the source of the light beam so that the only light approaching the shutter is that corresponding to the effective optical entrance beam of the polychromator. The function of such a mask is to prevent the direct passage of light past the shutter element to the surface surrounding the entrance aperture. To further reduce the possibility of light entering the entrance aperture by indirect routes, it is a further possible aspect of this invention that a second mask, having an opaque surface and an aperture, be placed between the shutter element and said first mask. Said second mask is arranged in such a manner that when the shutter element is so placed as to block the entrance aperture there can be no direct path between the aperture of said first mask to the surface surrounding the entrance aperture.
The amount of movement required of a bimorph actuator of a shutter device according to the invention to prevent light from reaching the detector depends on the place at which the blocking occurs. Typically the entrance aperture to the polychromator of a spectroscopic instrument of the invention is quite small and if the light beam is blocked close to the entrance aperture the amount of movement required will be correspondingly small. A peak-to-peak movement of about 0.5 mm would suffice. Embodiments of a shutter device having a cantilevered bimorph actuator as described hereinabove can provide peak to peak motions of about 0.6 mm.
The piezoelectric structure or actuator of the invention bends in response to an applied electric voltage and the motion thus does not involve bulk movement, as is required in known mechanical interrupters. Such bending is responsive to the electrical drive signal and follows the applied voltage rapidly, providing fast operation. Electrically, a piezoelectric bimorph, which is the preferred form for the actuator, resembles a capacitor and it has low static dissipation and low loss when switching. Since there are few parts and no rotating or sliding surfaces there is no wear and the lifetime is dependent only on the life of the piezoelectric bimorph actuator. Such actuators have long lifetimes if operated within their specified ratings and if driven with a suitable applied voltage versus time regime.
The characteristics of the voltage versus time profile applied to drive the shutter device are determined primarily by the requirement that the shutter be driven quickly from one extreme of its movement to the other, with minimal oscillation at each end of its travel. Oscillation is excessive if it results in multiple interruptions of the light, including partial interruptions. In order that the shutter may be driven from one extreme of its movement to the other as quickly as possible while keeping oscillations to acceptable levels, an additional preferred feature of the invention is the application of an appropriate voltage versus time profile to the bimorph.
Several voltage versus time regimes have been investigated by the inventors, each having its attendant advantages and disadvantages. In the first of two applied voltage versus time regimes included within the scope of this invention, the applied voltage versus time profile causes the shutter first to commence its movement towards its operated position and then to decelerate it so that it reaches its operated position with substantially zero velocity. This has the advantage of allowing rapid movement of the shutter element. It has the disadvantage that the required rapid changes of the applied voltage can cause stresses in the bimorph that can lead to the partial fracture of the piezoelectric material and consequent failure of the device. To avoid this, in the second of the applied voltage regimes included within the scope of this invention the voltage versus time profile applied to the bimorph is such that at no time is the cantilevered bimorph subject to forces that would tend to accelerate it to velocities in excess of those corresponding to its natural frequency of vibration. Application of such forces can cause distortion of the bimorph, or the excitation of higher-order vibrations, and these can lead to the fracture of the piezoelectric material. Depending on its extent such fracture may or may not prevent the movement of the shutter, but it can result in the movement being unacceptably different from that intended.
A disadvantage of the second voltage versus time regime is that the speed of movement of the shutter cannot be greater than that set by the natural frequency of vibration of the bimorph. Where the utmost speed is not required it is preferable to use the second voltage versus time regime and so avoid the risk of damage to the device. Accordingly, the invention preferably encompasses electrical circuit means for applying a voltage versus time regime such that the cantilevered bimorph is not subjected to forces that would tend to accelerate it to velocities in excess of those corresponding to its natural frequency of vibration. A particular example is the use of an electrical circuit to drive the bimorph quasistatically. Such an arrangement keeps the voltage applied to the bimorph close to the equilibrium voltage as the bimorph moves. Stresses and higher order vibrations in the bimorph are thereby kept to a minimum.
Mechanical resonance of the cantilevered bimorph would result in simple harmonic motion. A plot of the position of the free end of the bimorph as a function of time would be a sine wave. Preferably, the voltage applied by the drive circuit mimics this wave shape to drive the bimorph efficiently and with the minimum of stress. Preferably, a lockout is provided in the circuit so that once a movement is commenced it must be completed before a movement in the opposite direction is initiated.
In the practical application of the invention it may be that the power supplies to the drive circuit are unstable for a brief period when they are switched on or off. Such instability could result in fast-changing voltages being applied to the bimorph, resulting in fracture of the piezoelectric material as described previously. Accordingly, it is an additional preferred feature of this invention to provide protection circuitry to prevent such fast-changing voltages being applied to the bimorph. An example of such protection circuitry is the provision of a high resistance element that can be placed in series with the bimorph. Since the bimorph acts as a capacitor, such an arrangement will sufficiently limit the rate of rise of a voltage applied to the bimorph. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a microprocessor supervisory device monitors the levels of the supply rails to the driving circuit. When all levels are within specification it bypasses the series resistance element, thus providing fast drive to the bimorph as required for normal operation. The bypassing of the series resistance is preferably done relatively slowly, thus ensuring that the bimorph is not subjected to any abrupt changes in the drive voltage as the drive circuit impedance is reduced. In a preferred embodiment the bypassing of the series resistance is done by a photovoltaic relay. Any drop in the voltage on the supply rails below specified levels results in the photovoltaic relay being turned off quickly, thus interposing the resistance and filtering any fast transient drive signals that would otherwise be applied to the piezoelectric bimorph.
The time taken for the shutter to fully obstruct the spectral light beam when the appropriate voltage for that movement is applied has been found by the inventors to be highly reproducible for a particular shutter device. Likewise, the time taken for the shutter to be fully clear of the light beam when the appropriate voltage for that movement is applied is also highly reproducible for a particular shutter device. When different specimens of the shutter device were tested, however, it was found that these times, while highly consistent for each specimen, varied to a small but significant extent from one specimen to another.
Given the spectroscopic field of this invention, it may be desirable in some applications to vary the integration time by varying the time for which the shutter is open. It is often preferable to take multiple readings at short integration times to avoid the detector being saturated by long exposure to intense spectral lines from elements present in the sample at relatively high concentrations. It is also necessary that measurements made by summing the results of multiple readings at a short integration time should yield the same analytical results as would be obtained by the use of one long integration time, said long integration time being equal to the product of the number of readings and the length of said short integration time. Accordingly, it is necessary to take account of the variability, from one device to another, in the time taken for the shutter to fully obstruct the light beam when the appropriate voltage for that movement is applied, and of the time taken for the shutter to be fully clear of the light beam when the appropriate voltage for that movement is applied. It would be possible to provide adjustment means to set these times to the same values for each device, but this would be complex and expensive. It is preferable to conduct a calibration procedure such as, for example, that taught by Dr Tim Abbott of the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope (now at the Nordic Optical Telescope, Canary Islands, Spain) for calibrating mechanical shutters for CCD detectors on astronomical telescopes.
As explained by Dr Abott, the shutter delay pattern can be deduced by comparing a long exposure flat field with an exposure in which the shutter has been opened and closed many times. The counts in pixel i in an image where the shutter has been opened and closed once are given by:
I1,i=(t1+si)Fi
where t1 is the reported exposure time of the image, Si is the total shutter delay at pixel i, and Fi is the number of counts detected per second at that pixel.
If the shutter is opened and closed n times before the CCD is read out, then the counts at pixel i will be:
I2,i=(t2+nsi)Fi
where t2 is the reported exposure time for this second image and it has been assumed that the shutter delay is the same for every open-close cycle.
Since Fi is the same for both images, the shutter delay at each pixel in the image can be deduced from the following:
Si=(t1I2,ixe2x88x92t2I1,i)/(nI1,ixe2x88x92I2,i)
Another aspect of the invention provides a shutter device for blocking the path of a light beam in a spectroscopy instrument for preventing the further accumulation of charge by an optically sensitive detector of the instrument during a read time period for the detector following a charge accumulation time period, the shutter device including a piezoelectric structure which is a bimorph actuator in the form of a strip that is mounted as a cantilever to provide a free end, wherein the free end moves upon application of a driving voltage to the bimorph to block or unblock a light beam which propagates in a direction substantially at right angles to the plane of movement of the free end of the bimorph.
To better understand the invention and to show how it may be carried into effect, embodiments thereof will now be described by way of a non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.